Chilly’s Blog – First Of The New KTM’s

Day 1 Of Riding 2016 Models

There will be so much to talk about for the new 2016 XC-f line up, it will be hard to know quite where to start. The first day of riding is in the books and it was a real eye opener.

We are in Crawfordsville, Indiana at the Ironman motocross track, same venue as the GNCC. KTM has pulled out all the stops, bringing a large group of journalists in to ride the bikes a few days before the dealer meeting that will take place here this coming weekend.

In keeping with the KTM model theme, the XC-f models get all the new stuff as the motocrossers. The bikes we are riding are just one short step away from the factory bikes of Dungey and Musquin. As for what is new, it is more a question of what isn’t. Other than wheels, brakes, forks and clamps, there are almost no parts common to last year’s models.

Frankly, I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to take to the new bikes. If you are setting out to build a world-class motorcrosser, how is that going to benefit the average enduro rider? So what is my impression? Frankly I am a bit stunned at how smooth, comfortable and easy to ride these bikes are. Over the course of the day I found my confidence level rising and the bikes an absolute hoot to ride.

The 250 and 350 are particularly sweet. The 450 makes me question my manhood. It is a lot of bike and a bit much for the woods. Actually, it is easy to tool around on with a nice bottom end. Trying to up the pace and go fast is where it challenges me.

Tomorrow we do it all again. I need to spend more time with the 250 and 450. I latched on to the 350 today and did not want to let go of it. I also took one lap on the 150sx, mostly so I could just hear that motor sing. I will have some video footage on the 150 and all the other bikes too.

When I get down to write ups, there will be lots of high points to talk about. I have not found much yet to complain about either. Suffice it to say that these bikes are all going to raise the bar, even for enduro riders.